Miracle in Mérida? Church court investigates

A mysterious spot appeared on a communal wafer during mass in Mérida, Yucatán, on Sunday. Photo: Facebook

Mérida, Yucatán — A mysterious drop of possible blood appeared suddenly on a communion wafer during mass on Sunday, says a priest at the Capilla Villita de Guadalupe. Is it a miracle?

Father Ignacio Kemp Lozano said Monday that he will submit the case of a possible eucharistic miracle to authorities.

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The Ecclesiastical Court and General Vicariate of the Archdiocese of Yucatán will study the wafer, but for now, the evidence is sheltered in a secluded place for safe keeping.

Capilla Villita de Guadalupe, a modern church at Col. Gonzalo Guerrero, in the north end of Mérida. Photo: Facebook

Kemp Lozano said that if a eucharistic miracle isn’t declared, he will simply chalk it up to an inexplicable event that happened during the consecration of the host at the 11:30 a.m. mass.

“Even if we can not declare anything definitive, this does not increase or reduce my faith, but the Church must find out,” he told Milenio Novedades, in Spanish, expressing faith in the formal process of qualifying an actual miracle.

A possible miracle is being investigated at the Capilla Villita de Guadalupe in Mérida. Photo: Facebook

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He said the drop of blood appeared suddenly as he ceremonially lifted and lowered the host. He had no wounds on his hands or fingers. A doctor and a nurse who were worshiping there also examined the evidence and agreed that the spot appeared to be dried blood. By the end of mass, the stain appeared to have grown, said one parishioner on Facebook.

Excited parishioners took photos and videos, posting them on social media and messaging services.

The church is in the shadow of the Banamex Tower, in Col. Gonzalo Guerrero.

Echoes of Roman Catholic history

A 13th-century German priest named Peter of Prague was said to have doubted the presence of Christ in the consecrated host.

Peter stopped at Bolsena while on a pilgrimage to Rome, and while celebrating mass he saw that blood was starting to seep from the communion wafer. The blood trickle onto his hands and the altar.

Pope Urban IV sent emissaries for an immediate investigation and declared a miracle had indeed happened.